THE66POW: Grimsby Town 4 v Havant & Waterlooville 0

Pre match entertainment was provided by a plump seagull, who's party

piece is flying into chimney pots at speed and demolishing them

Saturday 15th December 2012, at Blundell Park, Cleethorpes
FA Trophy Second Round
Grimsby Town (3) 4
Shaun Pearson 2,
Andy Cook 9, 60
Greg Pearson 35
Havant & Waterlooville (0) 0
Admission £12, Programme £1,
Attendance 1215 (28 away fans)
Bitter in the Imperial, £1.70 a pint ... result!

Grimsby Town
McKeown, Hatton, Niven, Pearson (S), Colbeck, Disley, Cook, Pearson (G), Wood, Pond, Marshall.
Subs - Miller, Southwell, Thanoj, Neilson, Rankine.
Havant & Waterlooville
Masters, Newton, Butler, Bailey, Harris, Woodford, Nametti, Ryan, Palmer, Kabba, Arthur.
Subs - Strugnell, Hutchinson, Taggart, Ramsey, Jones.

A game which pitted Blue Square Bet South strugglers and stragglers, Havant & Waterlooville, against the Blue Square Bet Premier's current second placed club, Grimsby Town.
Grimsby did what they had to this afternoon, without exactly ripping any trees up or working up much of a sweat.
Because, if truth be told, Havant & Waterlooville didn't give a very good account of themselves at all today at Blundell Park.
Given their purported pedigree and reputation for embarking on cup runs (remember, they were famously in front against Liverpool in a FA Cup tie at Anfield a few years ago), I was disappointed by the Hawks showing today.
Maybe they'd had a bad journey up from Hampshire, possibly they were embarrassed about having to wear such an awful kit in public.
But, whatever the reason was, they misfired and really struggled to get going at all.

The Mariners on the other hand, did all their best work early on in the game and were in front inside the first two minutes, when Shaun Pearson headed home a right wing free kick by Sam Hatton.
Shortly afterwards, Marcus Marshall teed the ball up for Joe Colbeck, who's close range effort was blocked well by the visitors keeper Clarke Masters, who then rode his luck when Marshall knocked the loose ball against the outside of the left hand upright from just three yards out.
Derek Niven fired a speculative shot from 30 yards out, but Masters got down to his left and managed to fumble the ball round the post, as it bobbled trickily in front of him, at the expense of corner.

In the ninth minute, the lively Marshall put a great cross over from the left flank that Andy Cook headed home for Town's second, from an unmarked position at the back post.
It would seem that somebody had done their homework on the visitors and had spotted that they were (not to put too fine a point on it) rubbish at dealing with crosses.
The Hawks mounted a rare push into Grimsby's last third and Joe Colbeck earned himself a booking for abruptly halting Chris Arthur's forward run.
It was a niggly, daft and unnecessary foul.
The visitors then enjoyed their best spell of the game, but after they had a corner and free kick into the Grimsby area dealt with fairly easily, they faded away again.
Marshall and Colbeck, worked a short corner routine between them, that led to a chance for Nathan Pond who headed wide.
Colbeck provided a foil for Craig Disley as they played a one-two inside the visitors area, but Disley's final shot lacked any real power and Masters saved it quite easily.

Niven and Pond, both had shots from outside the Havant & Waterlooville area, that came to nothing, before the home side netted their third goal, when Greg Pearson scored from a glancing header after Marshall had delivered a telling cross over from the left wing again.
The game was now effectively over.
The Hawks nearly gave their small, but vocal, band of fans something to cheer before the break, when Christian Nanetti's left wing corner found Chris Arthur, but he blazed his shot both high and wide of the target.
And then after a great pass through the right channel by Nanetti, Sahr Kabba had a close range shot saved by James McKeown.
Although the first half hadn't been all Grimsby, it had been mostly Grimsby.
And the second half and final result were now both fairly academic, as the home side, with a Friday night clash against Wrexham on the horizon, could now sit back and take things easy, whilst Havant & Waterlooville, well ... that's what they had been doing for most of the first half anyway.

On 58 minutes, Joe Colbeck, already sitting on a yellow card, in a game that his team had all but won already anyway, went flying into a tackle on Dan Butler, near the half way, with his studs up.
It was a crude challenge that left the referee, Chris Kavanagh, with no option but to send him off for a second yellow card offence.
Hmm ... the lengths some people will go to get time off at Xmas!
The youngsters tucked in the corner of a virtually deserted Pontoon Stand, broke into a chorus of "You don't know what you're doing", but on the evidence of what I'd just witnessed, I couldn't be sure whether they were aiming that taunt at the referee or Joe Colbeck :-/
Two minutes later, just in case the visitors thought that numerical advantage was going to be their salvation, Grimsby scored again, when Andy Cook claimed his second goal of the game with a great effort from 12 yards out, after he'd taken the ball on the edge of the box and advanced on Masters goal.

Craig Disley, he's looking quite old these days

Even with an extra man on the pitch, the visitors were still going nowhere fast. And Grimsby had chances to increase their lead further, when both Sam Hatton and Andi Thanoj took turns to smash the ball over the Hawks crossbar.
Right at the death Havant & Waterlooville had two half heated attempts on goal, when Ollie Palmer flashed a snap shot over the bar and then Steve Ramsey belted the ball even further over the same bar, after another of the visitors substitutes, Ed Hutchinson, had played the ball neatly into his path.
The final whistle sounded and Grimsby Town marched on to the next round of the FA Trophy.
You can only beat what is in front of you on days like this.
And though the Mariners never really got out of second gear after the break, there wasn't ever really any urgent need for them to do so either, after all the required damage had already been done, during the first half.
Interestingly, Gainsborough Trinity also got through to the next round of the Trophy today, after beating Forest Green Rovers away in their game.
What an intriguing and mouth watering prospect a GTFC v GTFC game would be.
Perhaps that one can keep until the final!?

All 28 Havant & Waterlooville supporters

Elsewhere, at the top of the CMFL North, things really hotted up today, when Harworth Colliery beat Welbeck Welfare 4-0 to stay in touch with the leading pack, while Dronfield Town recorded a 5-1 away win at league leaders AFC Mansfield, which sees them go level with the Bulls on points, with a game in hand. CMFL South leaders Newark Town, squandered three points in a surprise 2-0 home defeat to Clifton All Whites.
In the Baris NCEL, Staveley MW are now in the top four, having seen off Barton Town Old Boys 3-0 at Inkersall Road, while Retford United gave themselves a springboard for the second half of the season, with a 3-1 home win against Long Eaton United, as they sneak up on the blind side in the top half of the table.
Worksop Parramore's game at Arnold, my original destination today, was called off early this morning, meaning I'll have to go scrounging and begging off of Peter Whitehead some other time in the not too distant future instead now ;-)
And let's not forget Frickley Athletic, who beat second placed Hednesford Town today, to gain three valuable as they climb towards safety in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League.

Next up:
Hopefully, I'll be at the Northolme tomorrow afternoon for Gainsborough Trinity v Cleethorpes Town in the Lincs Intermediate League.
Followed by the 'championship decider' between Staveley MW and Retford United in the NMU19L Div 1 on Monday and the Buxton v Harworth Colliery game in the NMU19L Div 2 on Tuesday.
And then I'm at Easington United v Harworth Colliery in the CMFL North, next weekend.
But, of course, that all depends on the weather.